The Anti-Mumps Dossier

By Kleinheider Posted on December 14, 2008 at 10:01 pm

The Associated Press offers this laundry list of complaints against speaker-to-be Jason Mumpower:

He was among only 15 House members who voted against letting the proposed lottery constitutional amendment go to the state’s voters in 2002. And even after voters approved the lottery, Mumpower in May 2003 voted against the legislation setting up the way the agency was to operate in what he described in a recent Associated Press interview as “a vote of consistency.”

Despite his public opposition to the lottery, the Bristol public relations firm that Mumpower works for, The Corporate Image Inc., in August 2003 applied for a $125,000 contract to market the new agency.

Materials submitted by the company identified Mumpower as being in charge of “new business development.” The company did not get the contract, and Mumpower says now he doesn’t recall if he was involved in the application process.

Mumpower said he doesn’t find it inconsistent to have opposed the lottery in the Legislature and then have the company look to promote it.

“You know, I don’t own the company,” he said.

Mumpower’s boss, Jon Lunberg, has since been elected to the House as a Bristol Republican.

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Tags: Jason Mumpower, Jon Lunberg, Tennessee lottery  

Tennessee Lottery A Good Gamble For Steve Cohen

By Kleinheider Posted on July 22, 2008 at 8:11 am

Freshman Congressman and father of the Tennessee lottery, Steve Cohen, gets pro-gamblers to ante up for his campaign kittyL

Incumbent Steve Cohen went to a Las Vegas fundraiser last fall with Judiciary Committee chairman John Conyers, D-Mich., and picked up checks from 10 professional gamblers, some with nicknames like Texas Dolly and Vegas Stud. Eight of the 10 gave the maximum allowed for both the primary and general elections, $4,600. One gambler’s wife also made a contribution as did the poker manager of the Bellagio casino.

The entire haul for the Nov. 19 event, including in-kind beverages: $64,188.

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Tags: gamblers, Steve Cohen, Tennessee lottery